$6.8M TIGER Grant to Be Used to Improve Dispatch Systems of Rural Ohio Transit Systems

Although no railroad projects in Ohio received a TIGER grant this year, the Ohio Department of Transportation did receive a $6,839,860 award to be used to improve the communications, scheduling and dispatching of more than 30 rural transit operators.

The $7.3 million project will involve development of technology improvements for communication/scheduling/ dispatching technology, improve rural transit operators’ eligibility for rural transit grants, and eliminate base-to-vehicle communication gaps in rural areas.

At present, many rural operators use pencil and paper scheduling, and dispatchers are often unable to communicate with drivers en route.

Having a better dispatching system is expected to improve customer satisfaction by providing more efficient on-time demand-responsive and fixed route operations.

This, in turn, is expected to lead to more efficient operation of vehicles, lower costs for transportation providers and clients, and more economical use of transit vehicles.

A more reliable communications system will allow rural transit operators to respond to emergency situations more rapidly and drivers to remain with their vehicles when involved in an emergency or an incident, thereby improving safety.

No Ohio Rail Projects Get 2015 TIGER Grant

No Ohio rail project applications made the final cut when it came time to hand out the 2015 Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grants.

The U.S. Department of Transportation this past week announced that 16 rail-related projects had won TIGER grants.

The Ports of Indiana was awarded $10 million to construct a double rail loop and rail-to-barge transfer facility in Jeffersonville, Indiana.

The project also includes construction of a nearly mile-long siding extension that will allow railroads to deliver a 90-car unit train to the port. The project will also construct a truck-to-rail intermodal facility to accommodate increasing truck traffic expected from the East End Bridge over the Ohio River.

Buffalo, New York, received $18 million to o rebuild the lower Main Street segment of the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority’s Metro Rail light rail service.

The Metra commuter rail agency of Chicago received $15 million to replace a bridge over the Fox River in Elgin, Illinois, on a route owned by Canadian Pacific.

The TIGER grants were begun in 2009. This year there were 627 eligible applications that collectively sought $10.1 billion when there was just $500 million available.

The applications came from all 50 states. Grants were awarded to 39 projects in 34 states and more than $245 million was awarded to rail-related projects.

TIGER Grant Requests Exceed Funds Available

As in previous years, there are far more applicants for Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recover (TIGER) grants than there are funds.

The U.S. Department of Transportation said it has received requests totaling $9.8 billion, which is almost 20 times the amount of the $500 million in funding available.

Among the 625 applications received this year, 60 percent are road projects, 18 percent are transit projects and 8 percent are rail projects. Port and bicycle-pedestrian applications each represented 6 percent of the total, DOT said in a news release.

The number of applications is up from the 565 received in 2014 and came from all 50 states and U.S. territories.

Last year DOT awarded $584.1 million for 72 capital and planning projects in 46 states and the District of Columbia.

The TIGER program offers federal funding possibilities for large multimodal projects that are considered “transformative” in nature.

The federal dollars leverage money from private-sector partners, state and local government, metropolitan planning organizations and transit agencies.

“The consistent number of high quality projects we’re unable to fund through TIGER every year demonstrates the need for Congress to act to give more communities access to this vital lifeline,” said Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx.

Since 2009, the TIGER program has provided a $4.1 billion to 342 projects. During the previous six rounds, USDOT received more than 6,000 applications requesting more than $124 billion.

$500M Up for Grabs in Federal TIGER Grants

The seventh round of Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grants will have $500 million available this year, the U.S. Department of Transportation has announced.

TIGER grants are used to fund capital investments in surface transportation infrastructure. They are awarded in a competitive process to projects U.S. DOT deems to have a significant impact on the nation, a region or metropolitan area.

Since 2009, the TIGER grant program has provided $4.1 billion to 342 projects. Demand for the grants is high with the agency having received more than 6,000 applications requesting more than $124 billion for transportation projects across the country.

“The TIGER program has funded innovative projects, sparked new partnerships, created intermodal connections and enabled hard-to-fund projects that are changing the face of communities all across the country,” said Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. ”

Last week, U.S. DOT reintroduced a six-year, $478-billion surface transportation reauthorization bill, the GROW AMERICA Act. The bill would provide $7.5 billion in funding over six years for the TIGER grant program.

Current TIGER funding is provided in the FY 2015 Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act. Pre-Applications are due on May 4, 2015. Final applications are due June 5, 2015.

“The consistent number of high quality projects we’re unable to fund through TIGER every year demonstrates the need for Congress to act to give more communities access to this vital lifeline,” Foxx said. “That is why we proposed doubling TIGER in the GROW AMERICA Act.”